From mod to game: How DayZ will evolve as a standalone release

Creator discusses changes that will come with freedom from ArmA II backbone.

Rebuilding DayZ from the ground up will mean zombies won't just run straight at you at full speed.

Bohemia Interactive / Dean Hall

When Dean "Rocket" Hall started working on the zombie-themed DayZ mod for Bohemia Interactive's ArmA II, he figured it would get a decent response from the few thousand people in the game's devoted modding community. But now that DayZ has broken through to mainstream gaming success—recently crossing over the one million player threshold—it's starting to outgrow the game that it was initially built on top of.

That's why Hall, now a full-time project manager at Bohemia's Prague headquarters, is leading up the development of a standalone version of DayZ (currently planned for release later this year). It's a move that will help directly monetize what has, until now, just been an extremely effective marketing tool for the core ArmA II game. It's also a move that will free DayZ itself from some design constraints imposed by building on top of the structure of a very different, pre-existing game.

"ArmA was designed for a pretty broad purpose, but it was designed as a military simulator," Hall said in an interview with Ars. "The purpose of DayZ is very different, so that's why it needs to make the transition."

No more compromises

Working on top of ArmA II's pre-set canvas led to some compromises in the design of DayZ, Hall said. The zombies in the mod, for instance, are simply altered versions of ArmA soldiers. This means they run directly at players at full speed, an artifact of the host game's pathfinding AI.

That doesn't exactly fit with the vision Hall has for a wide variety of zombies in the final game, ranging from shambling, starved undead to well-fed monsters that have become more threatening as the virus has continued to eat away at their brains (Hall says he'll be working with his brother, a virologist in his native New Zealand, to integrate that kind of world-building narrative context into the final game, and reveal it to players as they play).

"The way I look at DayZ as a mod, it's really a bit of a hack, and not very clean," he said. "When you make it a standalone, you can actually say, 'How do I want zombies to behave,' not just 'What are the options?' In a lot of cases I was left with not too many options, so now I have options."

A lot of the perceived "weaknesses" in the ArmA II engine DayZ is built on are just a reflection of the zombie game's very different focus, Hall said. "The inventory system is a good example. Inventory isn't really a key part of ArmA, because you generally play with what you've got... [but] inventory and gear are key to DayZ—it's DayZ's leveling—so that's why that's very important."

Keeping the edge

The war with The War Z

Anyone with even passing familiarity with DayZ will find a lot that seems pretty familiar in The War Z, a zombie-themed survival horror MMO that has already attracted over 100,000 beta signups since being announced last month. Despite the similarities, though, Hall doesn't seem too concerned about being ripped off.

"I'm not gonna say I'm thrilled about it—I'm not going to invite them over for a cup of tea," he said, "[but] I don't think you can steal an idea. Competition isn't a bad thing... If they take that idea and make something awesome out of it, great. That's the ultimate form of flattery."

And just because DayZ and The War Z share some surface similarities doesn't mean the former game is going to be so easy to copy wholesale, Hall says. "I believe, maybe kind of arrogantly, that DayZ is innovative, and DayZ is always going to be innovative, and anybody who tries to clone it is going to be in a difficult position, because they have to go so much further. That's why DayZ is in that fairy tale position. It's ours to lose, basically…

"Let's see what the game is before anyone passes any judgment. I'd hope that people would buy the one that's best when it's out."

Changes to things like the inventory interface and even the basic installation process will make the standalone DayZ a bit more accessible than the existing mod, Hall said. But improving accessibility doesn't mean Hall wants to mess with the mod's unforgiving core design, which drops players into its zombie-filled world without weapons or any real guidance or direction.

"A difficult edge and a steep learning curve is part of that disorientation," Hall said. "I think the community does a pretty good job of educating itself. I think making the game intuitive to the point where it doesn't need a tutorial would be the aim that we're looking for. If we have to provide complex tutorials, we're not only breaking the immersion but we've also failed at our development job."

But there will be some changes to playability brought on by the move from mod to game. Rebuilding from the ground up with the latest version of Bohemia's Real Virtuality engine (which was shown to great effect powering ArmA III at this year's E3) will also allow the standalone DayZ to have more diffuse nighttime lighting, rather than the practically unplayable near-pitch-blackness of the current mod.

"[ArmA II] wasn't really designed to not have any lights at all in the world," he said. "DayZ rips all the lights out of the world [at night] except for the odd torch and some flares that didn't exist in the base game, so it's not able to cope very well. These are the kinds of issues that are very easy to look at as a standalone, because we know what needs to be fixed so we go in there and change it in the source."

For the standalone release, Hall said his team is also looking into changing the mod's odd, hybrid server structure. Currently, this stores a player's current location, inventory, and status on a central server and maintains those attributes even as that player hops between independently maintained game servers. Hall said a more unified, central, MMO-style cloud server would be "the holy grail," and cited EVE Online's servers, full of uncharted space and plenty of PvP action, as "the fantastic example I can think of."

Release early, update often

While Hall says the core design of DayZ won't change in the move from mod to standalone game, it might expand a little. "The design is just a husk, the idea is to expand the design with base building, more sensible crafting... more control over the world, group play; those things are definitely areas we want to expand."

But a lot of these features are currently being planned for the longer term. The immediate goal for the DayZ development team, Hall says, is fixing the bugs and hackable exploits that make the current mod a bit unstable at times. After that point, he says, the game will follow the Minecraft model, with lots of small, iterative updates that add new features in response to the community's desires.

That could lead to some frequent changes in the way the game is played, if the history of player reactions to the mod's development are any indication. "We see a lot of butterfly effect in the data," Hall said. "Even the smallest change released in a patch has big impacts. There's an initial golden period after an update is released where we see a lot of anxiety in players... people go in fairly gingerly and aren't killing other players and are cooperating. Then after a couple of hours of the update being released, they suddenly go nuts and start killing each other. It's almost like a rubber band; after time it oscillates back down to its more stable form of grouping up based on real-life friends."

Promoted Comments

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

A better idea would be to actually simulate infection; if you're killed by zombies, your corpse becomes a zombie. If your killed by players, your corpse is not disposed of, and zombies enter the area, you become a zombie.

This is really a great mod. I would like to invite anyone to have a read of the DayZ forum here on Ars. While I'll not go into great detail, some of the stories are really spectacular. For someone who put gaming on the backburner because of a shift in age, this has really pulled me back again.viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1173935&start=1640

I play DayZ already, and while hackers are a big problem, I'd much rather them fix the other bugs first, such as not being able to ever walk near military places because of the huge artifact bugs that appear, and other places get them now too. Please, bug fix, then fix the hacker issue.

Glad to hear that this will become a more polished game and that the inventory system will be overhauled. The PvP tension is so awesome now but there are more reports of hackers cheating now. I would like to see less broken bones (just make me limp, for the love of Gawd!) and that blood be slowly replenished as long as you are well fed and staying hydrated. Harvesting food from gardens would be cool too.

Also incorporating fitness would be cool - a combination of running and resting makes your player run faster over time. This may not be possible but adding some sort of parkour element, something along the lines of assassin's creed, that would allow you to climb and jump in order to escape zombies would be nice. As of now using ladders is pretty clunky and if you drop 4ft you break a leg.

Tournament play would be cool with 2 to 6 teams of 5 to 8 players going at it.

It is punishingly difficult at times, and the occasional bugs can bring issues, but the core game itself is a lot of fun. There is nothing like the tension in a game, where if you die, you lose everything. The freedom to make risk/reward decisions by visiting towns makes each run unique and exciting. If you want to play Dayz, i recommend getting a buddy to play with. I am not sure the main stream is ready to play a game with such a steep learning curve, but i still highly recommend. Who has even heard of Arma?

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

I'm not gonna say I'm thrilled about it—I'm not going to invite them over for a cup of tea," he said, "[but] I don't think you can steal an idea. Competition isn't a bad thing... If they take that idea and make something awesome out of it, great. That's the ultimate form of flattery.

I think this is a fantastic attitude, and I wish all creatives shared it. Certainly makes me a lot more interested in DayZ than I previously was...

I'll probably end up buying it. It's a tough, grueling game. However, that's kind of the point. I'd like inventory improvements, and a whole slew of bug fixes, but I don't want the core "you should always be terrified" feeling to go away. I like that. That's why I play it. I don't expect to win. Just like Contra without cheat codes, it's not something I expect to excel at. But it's great seeing a gradual improvement in your skill, and really being able to master something.

This is very exciting news. I got ARMA II and got the mod, and it's an incredible concept. I tried out Eve for the same reasons, and couldn't quite get hooked, but it probably had something to do with no friends playing it along with it already being out there for years. Getting in on the ground floor, on the other hand would make it so much more awesome.

DayZ has its faults in its current incarnation, but making it into a standalone game should fix a lot of those.

Following the minecraft model will be nice too. Get the base game alpha out there, and allowing players to mess around in the world while they refine it will be great.

And this time, implementing a hunger system won't make me groan in annoyance.

So, basically taking the CounterStrike route? I remember when that was just a mod for Half Life -- though I suppose that just shows my age. While that maintained the core engine, from how I read this, that won't be the case here, correct?

Personally, I've always felt that's when you can say a mod is more than just a mod: when people really want it as a stand alone game, and value it more than the base upon which it is built.

g as you are well fed and staying hydrated. Harvesting food from gardens would be cool too.

Also incorporating fitness would be cool - a combination of running and resting makes your player run faster over time. This may not be possible but adding some sort of parkour element, something along the lines of assassin's creed, that would allow you to climb and jump in order to escape zombies would be nice. As of now using ladders is pretty clunky and if you drop 4ft you break a leg.

t[/quote]Im pretty sure that happens now as it was aprt of the arma 2 engine, which is why your character pants after a long run. If you sit still for awhile and your breathing rate goes down you can get it up and sprint fast for a short period and then you settle into a regular run.

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

A better idea would be to actually simulate infection; if you're killed by zombies, your corpse becomes a zombie. If your killed by players, your corpse is not disposed of, and zombies enter the area, you become a zombie.

I thought the zombie's were altered versions of ARMA II's animals, and that's why they run at full speed towards the player and are rather glitchy. ARMA's soldier AI is more complicated, so you can't have hundreds of AI soldier-zombies running around.

I've been playing this since the first Ars article and have fallen in love with it. I hadn't played an online game for a few years, but this has pulled me back in. Sure it's buggy, sure there are hackers, but if you don't get too attached to your gear you can have some crazy and memorable experiences. I'll happily support the standalone.

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

A better idea would be to actually simulate infection; if you're killed by zombies, your corpse becomes a zombie. If your killed by players, your corpse is not disposed of, and zombies enter the area, you become a zombie.

IMHO that would ruin the game. That's the whole thing with this game, there is no 'winning' only surviving. If you make cities safe zones, then that opens up a whole new set of player problems. Is this safe zone safe from bandits who are just sitting and waiting on unsuspecting people looking to scavenge? At least in keeping these cities infested, it levels the playing field, so to speak.

I myself like the way this game makes it so there are no real safe zones. Nothings supposed to be safe, that's the whole point. Even another player you run across, is he safe or is he going to shoot you in the back and rob you when you walk away? That's what gives this game it's atmosphere, that level of "oh shit!" that most other games don't have. It is safe enough to scavenge the helicopter? Or are there bandits laying in wait? Is that city in the distance infested? Is the risk worth the need? Is that person you see running along in the distance someone you can trust? Or is it a trap to draw out other players so his group can kill then rob you?

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

A better idea would be to actually simulate infection; if you're killed by zombies, your corpse becomes a zombie. If your killed by players, your corpse is not disposed of, and zombies enter the area, you become a zombie.

IMHO that would ruin the game. That's the whole thing with this game, there is no 'winning' only surviving. If you make cities safe zones, then that opens up a whole new set of player problems. Is this safe zone safe from bandits who are just sitting and waiting on unsuspecting people looking to scavenge? At least in keeping these cities infested, it levels the playing field, so to speak.

I myself like the way this game makes it so there are no real safe zones. Nothings supposed to be safe, that's the whole point. Even another player you run across, is he safe or is he going to shoot you in the back and rob you when you walk away? That's what gives this game it's atmosphere, that level of "oh shit!" that most other games don't have. It is safe enough to scavenge the helicopter? Or are there bandits laying in wait? Is that city in the distance infested? Is the risk worth the need? Is that person you see running along in the distance someone you can trust? Or is it a trap to draw out other players so his group can kill then rob you?

It's never safe....

If you think being able to clean out a city of zombies would make it safe, you don't know the level of work people go through to grief other players. Or, much more likely, another rival city might unleash a zombie into a "clean" town to get all the gear and equipment stored in that city.If they did implement city cleaning, i'd like to see crafting and 'barriers' be a big feature. So, while in a safe city, you can craft things like gardens or repair cars or houses while offline. However, if you're crafting while offline and the city becomes unsafe, you'd die. That sort of worldbuilding and cooperation would give people a reason to cooperate, and a reason to keep from becoming sociopaths. There is no risk to playing a sociopath, so every single person you come across has no incentive not to murder you, other than not having the weapons to do so.

I'm glad this became a standalone product, and i'm very glad I didn't buy ARMA just to play it. The zombie behavior was very weird, and the inventory management looked like a mess, so i'm glad they addressed those to things specifically.

IMHO that would ruin the game. That's the whole thing with this game, there is no 'winning' only surviving. If you make cities safe zones, then that opens up a whole new set of player problems. Is this safe zone safe from bandits who are just sitting and waiting on unsuspecting people looking to scavenge? At least in keeping these cities infested, it levels the playing field, so to speak.

I myself like the way this game makes it so there are no real safe zones. Nothings supposed to be safe, that's the whole point. Even another player you run across, is he safe or is he going to shoot you in the back and rob you when you walk away? That's what gives this game it's atmosphere, that level of "oh shit!" that most other games don't have. It is safe enough to scavenge the helicopter? Or are there bandits laying in wait? Is that city in the distance infested? Is the risk worth the need? Is that person you see running along in the distance someone you can trust? Or is it a trap to draw out other players so his group can kill then rob you?

It's never safe....

This above post is true. It's never safe. After being out of gaming for years I've started playing this when I have a bit of free time. The last couple days I've been dragging my ass to work because I stayed up too late playing this. As I posted above, take a few minutes and read the Dayz forum under 'gaming'. I've not seen a game in a long time where people tell stories of their experiences.

Also, if you're not feeling like going the lone wolf route jump on teamspeak and search for Ars. You can sometimes find a few fellow Arsians online in the game. Good group of guys and they won't screw you over.

For instance: I had survived a couple days in game (really, being a relative newcomer I was extremely proud of that). I'm up north geared for survival and was looking for some supplies in a small unnamed town. Even though I'm at full health a chance encounter with a zombie breaks my leg and I didn't have a morphine auto injector and I was well away from anywhere I they might be. I didn't want to loose my character as I'd invested a lot of time gearing up and collecting food and water. I called out to a couple guys on the Ars teamspeak server to see if anyone was around to assist. These two gents pipe up and decide a rescue mission is in order EVEN though I was about an hour away in game (huge map). They make their way up to me, raiding a bit on the way, while I'm trying to figure out exactly where I am and they are so I can coach them in. The final bit was not too easy either as I'm in tall grass crawling around because of broken legs.

They find me, patch me up, I'm eternally grateful. I have an and inventory full of steaks so I pass a couple around for they increase blood by 800 as opposed to 200 for canned goods. I ask if I can tag along for a bit even though it's getting late and they're like 'Sure'. Wasn't about 30 seconds after that we hear a shot ring out. Being as we were in the middle of nowehere it was assumed one of our party discharged a weapon. Then one guy goes down as I assume a sniper has us zeroed. Bam the second guy drops. I'm crouching (should have dropped to the deck in retrospect) trying to ziz zag away but I got capped myself. Damn!!

Maybe the guy thought we were bandits, I don't know, but it's part of the game. It's the head trip and quasi reality of a survival game. Sure it has it's problems, but it's a mod made on someone's free time and in alpha as well. I learned to keep my head down, I'm not upset, and I'm back in the wilderness again.

Check this poor Ars member out (Mortus). Talk about a bad day. To those who haven't played the game the Enfield rifle he's using is really loud and alerts zombies from pretty far away. Some call it the dinner bell.

I really wish there were counters for zombie spawning. Once the counters reach zero in a city there will be no more zombies spawning there. It's now a safe zone. Then there can be an actually winning. Right now it's, you're gonna die, it's just a matter of when. Even make it oregon trail-y. People have professions/skills.

A better idea would be to actually simulate infection; if you're killed by zombies, your corpse becomes a zombie. If your killed by players, your corpse is not disposed of, and zombies enter the area, you become a zombie.

IMHO that would ruin the game. That's the whole thing with this game, there is no 'winning' only surviving. If you make cities safe zones, then that opens up a whole new set of player problems. Is this safe zone safe from bandits who are just sitting and waiting on unsuspecting people looking to scavenge? At least in keeping these cities infested, it levels the playing field, so to speak.

I myself like the way this game makes it so there are no real safe zones. Nothings supposed to be safe, that's the whole point. Even another player you run across, is he safe or is he going to shoot you in the back and rob you when you walk away? That's what gives this game it's atmosphere, that level of "oh shit!" that most other games don't have. It is safe enough to scavenge the helicopter? Or are there bandits laying in wait? Is that city in the distance infested? Is the risk worth the need? Is that person you see running along in the distance someone you can trust? Or is it a trap to draw out other players so his group can kill then rob you?

It's never safe....

If you think being able to clean out a city of zombies would make it safe, you don't know the level of work people go through to grief other players. Or, much more likely, another rival city might unleash a zombie into a "clean" town to get all the gear and equipment stored in that city.If they did implement city cleaning, i'd like to see crafting and 'barriers' be a big feature. So, while in a safe city, you can craft things like gardens or repair cars or houses while offline. However, if you're crafting while offline and the city becomes unsafe, you'd die. That sort of worldbuilding and cooperation would give people a reason to cooperate, and a reason to keep from becoming sociopaths. There is no risk to playing a sociopath, so every single person you come across has no incentive not to murder you, other than not having the weapons to do so.

I'm glad this became a standalone product, and i'm very glad I didn't buy ARMA just to play it. The zombie behavior was very weird, and the inventory management looked like a mess, so i'm glad they addressed those to things specifically.

Hm, I never said cleaning out a city would make it safe. That was the whole point of my post. In fact the last line of my post sums it up. "It's never safe". And believe it or not there is a level of cooperation in the game. Survival tends to force people to cooperate much more than they are comfortable with. That's the great thing about this game, there is no place really safe and it forces people out of their 'comfort zone' in order to survive.

IMHO that would ruin the game. That's the whole thing with this game, there is no 'winning' only surviving. If you make cities safe zones, then that opens up a whole new set of player problems. Is this safe zone safe from bandits who are just sitting and waiting on unsuspecting people looking to scavenge? At least in keeping these cities infested, it levels the playing field, so to speak.

I myself like the way this game makes it so there are no real safe zones. Nothings supposed to be safe, that's the whole point. Even another player you run across, is he safe or is he going to shoot you in the back and rob you when you walk away? That's what gives this game it's atmosphere, that level of "oh shit!" that most other games don't have. It is safe enough to scavenge the helicopter? Or are there bandits laying in wait? Is that city in the distance infested? Is the risk worth the need? Is that person you see running along in the distance someone you can trust? Or is it a trap to draw out other players so his group can kill then rob you?

It's never safe....

This above post is true. It's never safe. After being out of gaming for years I've started playing this when I have a bit of free time. The last couple days I've been dragging my ass to work because I stayed up too late playing this. As I posted above, take a few minutes and read the Dayz forum under 'gaming'. I've not seen a game in a long time where people tell stories of their experiences.

Also, if you're not feeling like going the lone wolf route jump on teamspeak and search for Ars. You can sometimes find a few fellow Arsians online in the game. Good group of guys and they won't screw you over.

For instance: I had survived a couple days in game (really, being a relative newcomer I was extremely proud of that). I'm up north geared for survival and was looking for some supplies in a small unnamed town. Even though I'm at full health a chance encounter with a zombie breaks my leg and I didn't have a morphine auto injector and I was well away from anywhere I they might be. I didn't want to loose my character as I'd invested a lot of time gearing up and collecting food and water. I called out to a couple guys on the Ars teamspeak server to see if anyone was around to assist. These two gents pipe up and decide a rescue mission is in order EVEN though I was about an hour away in game (huge map). They make their way up to me, raiding a bit on the way, while I'm trying to figure out exactly where I am and they are so I can coach them in. The final bit was not too easy either as I'm in tall grass crawling around because of broken legs.

They find me, patch me up, I'm eternally grateful. I have an and inventory full of steaks so I pass a couple around for they increase blood by 800 as opposed to 200 for canned goods. I ask if I can tag along for a bit even though it's getting late and they're like 'Sure'. Wasn't about 30 seconds after that we hear a shot ring out. Being as we were in the middle of nowehere it was assumed one of our party discharged a weapon. Then one guy goes down as I assume a sniper has us zeroed. Bam the second guy drops. I'm crouching (should have dropped to the deck in retrospect) trying to ziz zag away but I got capped myself. Damn!!

Maybe the guy thought we were bandits, I don't know, but it's part of the game. It's the head trip and quasi reality of a survival game. Sure it has it's problems, but it's a mod made on someone's free time and in alpha as well. I learned to keep my head down, I'm not upset, and I'm back in the wilderness again.

You bring up another good point about this game. The level of attachment we get for our characters in this game. Because you invest so much time and energy into your character, the level of thought you put into each and every action knowing that the slightest mistake could end up in death. It just makes this game that much more enjoyable. Sure it's frustrating as hell to survive 2 or 3 days then to die because you started developing a false sense of security, became just slightly more complacent, then BAM, your legs are broken and you're laying in an old barn while zombies close in on you.

It sucks to no end to have that happen. But you know what, when that happens I am literally sitting in my chair, teeth gritted, heart pounding in my chest. Haven't had a game get that kinda reaction outta me in so long I can't even remember when (UO maybe), and that's was so great about this game. This is what this game has that others lack. So you die in [insert generic MMO name here], so what, *yawn* respawn, maybe spend a little money to repair gear, then on with *yawn* the game. Not so in DayZ.

Of course I believe there are a few more games out there that have this same "die and lose everything" mechanic. But this one has zombies... ZOMBIES!

...To those who haven't played the game the Enfield rifle he's using is really loud and alerts zombies from pretty far away. Some call it the dinner bell...

My friend and I were lurking around a smaller town when this guy show up out of nowhere in full camo gear. We both freaked out thinking we were dead. He then proceeded to follow us around for a little bit so we could get water. A lone zombie caught us, and the guy proceeded to tell us to get up these stairs (apparently the cant go up some types) and fires his rifle. We were playing on a recruit server so you could see all the zombies in the area. After that first shot rang out we could see all the little dots turn white. We proceeded to watch him constantly fire his rifle (and his silenced smg, we were both conviced that this was a hacker seeing that it appeared he never reloaded ever). Soon there were a pile of bodies before us.

My friend eventually died trying to find me some food. I'm still camping in the deer stand with a red food indicator...

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.